Another mini-interview!

Fleur Adcock is at MLF this week to read from her long-awaited new poetry collection, Dragon Talk. She was kind enough to join Lionel Shriver, Sophie Hannah and Pascale Petit in answering a few questions about her inspirations and influences. Come along to the event at Manchester Museum today at 7:30pm to hear some more.

MLF: What are you reading at the moment?

FA: Does anyone ever answer this question truthfully? I'm usually reading or dipping into two or three books at once, for various locations and moods: poetry, history, a light detective story for the train.

MLF: What made you want to be a writer? Who/ what is your biggest inspiration?

FA: Hearing my mother read poems to me in bed when I was five probably started me off. Phrases such as my "biggest inspiration" don't really make sense to me.

MLF: If you could meet any writer, artist, musician (alive or dead) who would it be and why?

FA: Katherine Mansfield, because we shared so many factors in our lives, many decades apart -- I went to her school in Wellington, lived in her street, emigrated to England as she did. And I'm a great admirer of her stories.

MLF: What would you be if not a writer?

FA: A naturalist.

MLF: Do you ever get writer's block? If you do, how do you get over it?

FA: Frequently. All you can do is wait. Long walks help.

MLF: Which piece of your own work are you most proud of?

FA: Usually whichever I've most recently finished.

MLF: What do you see in your future?

FA: The inevitable: old age, death.

MLF: What are you looking forward to most at MLF?

FA: Being in Manchester and meeting old friends.

Fleur will be at the Manchester Museum tonight, from 7:30pm. Find out more here.